Shoukat Ali Jakati is the latest Students Islamic Movement of India man in the police kitty. Although he is relatively new to the SIMI club and is little heard of, the fact remains that the police are picking up every person that comes their way, be it big or small.
An officer in the investigating team probing the Bengaluru serial blasts told rediff.com that while investigations into the main incident continue, it is essential that small fries such as Jakati are picked up since they belong to the logistics department. This time around, the prime focus would be to break the logistics wing of terror outfits and in order to achieve that, is essential that even smaller fries are picked up.
Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that terror operations are a success thanks to the logistic support that they receive. An outfit like SIMI alone has at least 4,000 persons providing logistical support. This is only an indication that over the years, they have strenghthened their sleeper cells across the country.
The IB says that it is necessary to arrest smaller persons in the outfit considering that terror outfits are getting out of hand and it is important that such persons are nipped in the bud.
Jakati was arrested by the Anti-Terrorist Squad at the Santa Cruz Airport in Mumbai on Sunday while he was trying to leave the country. According to the police, he was leaving for the Middle East, but based on the information given by the Belgaum police, they managed to nab him.
The Belgaum police got information regarding Jakati through Tanveer Mulla who was arrested in Belgaum last week.
The Belgaum police say that Jakati, a resident of Belgaum had been missing since the Bengaluru blasts. They feel that he may have tried to go undercover ever since the Karnataka police cracked down on SIMI activists in the state.
Jakati has now been brought to Belgaum where he will be interrogated by the Special Investigating Team probing the Bengaluru blasts.